


Shadow Puppet

by fluffy_papaya



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Lorebuilding, Shapeshifting, Transformation, bdubs has an evil bitch baby shadow and that’s it that’s the fic, just a tad of angst, slight body horror, summary is more for overall chapters than actual summary sorry, three chapters three seasons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26640769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffy_papaya/pseuds/fluffy_papaya
Summary: He is alone in the darkness. The silence is beautiful.He is alone in the darkness. The void is comforting.He is alone in the darkness. The chill is refreshing.He is alone in the darkness.And a quiet part of him does not want to be anymore.
Relationships: None, unless you count the fury of a thousand scars bdubs has for his evil shadow
Comments: 11
Kudos: 34





	1. Season 7 - Symbiosis

**Author's Note:**

> quick info drop!  
> my best friend kacie was fucking around with hermits voices to try and get evil versions, made a bdubs one, I said ‘holy shit that’s awesome’, drew it, and then @sweetest-honeybee on tumblr (go follow them for incredible art) made it even MORE awesome, so now here I am writing a fic about it.  
> If you get to the end of this fic and are curious, it’s fluffy-papaya on tumblr and the tag is #boogeydubs  
> happy reading!

"Imagine a spider. But instead of eight legs it has twelve, and twenty four eyes all over the thorax and legs, and it's mouth goes across it's stomach-"

"I imagine you shutting up." Bdubs grumbled, peeking an eye open to see the aforementioned spider scuttling along the wall, staring at him. "But neither of those things are very likely to happen, huh?"

"Never in a million new worlds." The spider clicked at him, a trail of acid green goop dripping from it's stomach-mouth.

The builder stared for a second before sighing, closing his eyes again to lose himself- For a so called 'Tranquility Room' he had built, it really wasn't that tranquil for him. The darkness of the posters made Bdubs feel unbalanced and queasy, not knowing where the floor was until he had connected with it, and the lack of lights anywhere probably hadn’t been a good idea, considering what he was.

"Imagine-"

"I really don't want to imagine anything right now unless it's a finished build." Bdubs groaned, keeping his eyes closed.

There was a quiet, hissing laugh.

"What?" He weakly demanded- like a tired cat hissing at being pet, the energy behind the malice simply wasn't there. "What is oh so funny now, wise guy?"

"You're feisty today."

The hiss and click from the spider's voice was gone, and Bdubs tiredly opened his eyes again-

To see sickly green irises staring at him, slifted black pupils thin and sharp, just enough space to see his own reflection in them. Barely five inches from his face.

The composition of the being in front of him was almost as hard to explain as it was difficult to see him. Bdubs had years of practice, and still sometimes found it hard to look at the creature.

He could tell it was himself, though. That much was certain. Him if he was made of oil and mud and gross leafy jungle water, but him nonetheless.

"Well, if someone had let me sleep last night, maybe I wouldn't be so cranky, huh?"

"It wouldn't kill you to see one sunset once in a freaking while." Boogey said softly, still way too close for personal comfort. While his voice was quiet, it wasn't kind. The voice of predator over prey. “It could just kill all your friends.”

Bdubs scowled.

"Oh, I- I really hate you."

"That's what makes it all the more fun." The twisted shadow leaned in closer still until their foreheads were touching, smile split unnaturally wide to show off sharp green teeth.

Bdubs was really starting to hate the color green.

He closed his eyes again, determined to just show Boogey he really did not care - he didn't! He really didn't!- but the shadow spoke in a new voice.

"Sometimes I wonder what you actually do around here." Scar scoffed, and Bdubs glared through slitted eyes at the toxic green shadow monster that had taken the shape of his friend.

"Seriously! Do you ever shut up?!”

"You're like the world's most annoying dog." Boogey-Scar continued, like he had never heard him. "’Scar! Scar! Oh, Scar, I missed you, Scar, listen to my new idea, Scar, waste your precious time with me Scar, I'm so useless!' You're pathetic, dude."

"Even Joe could do a better impression of Scar than you." Bdubs hissed under his breath. The sting of fake words was easy enough to brush away, considering he had been putting up with it for years now. "Even Iskall could do better, and his impression of Scar is British."

Boogey-Scar gave him a baleful look before melting in on himself, goop and shadows turning themselves inside out to morph back into Boogeydubs.

"It's not what they sound like." The shadow mused, "But the context of their words."

"The current context is I'm going to kick your sick shadow butt back into my own shadow, and take a nice nap with no distractions.”

Boogey barked out a laugh, neon green talons wrapping around Bdubs' wrist.

"What ever you say.”

"That's right." Bdubs agreed, ignoring the stinging pain as claws dug further into his wrist. "Whatever I say, you freak."

He felt a little surge of confidence, and yet...

His shadow gave a fake, shallow smile. "Do as you say." Boogey smirked, and twisted his talons further into Bdubs' skin with a cry of pain from the man. "Do as I do."

The builder cringed as Boogey  slipped into his shadow with a cackle, the darkness underneath him just a tad too dark to really be real, just the slightest different from the shadow he should’ve been casting.

Bdubs glancing at his injured hand.

He brought up his left hand to poke at the shadowy skin, squirming at how he could feel both the finger and the dark hand pressing into each other.

He curled his green and black talons into a fist and tucked it up under his armpit with a scowl.

Looked like he would be spending a bit more time in the tranquility room.


	2. S6 - Corruption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doc comes by for a visit.

All in all, Bdubs was enjoying his time in the Hermit’s new world. Sure, there had been a few messy deaths in a row before he landed in a pool, and yeah, there was a stinging bit of loneliness that he had never gotten over when his presence was announced, but Bdubs was fine.   
Bdubs was happy.  
  
...it used to be a lot easier to lie to himself.  
  
Bdubs rested his head against the cold bones of the giant iron golem, staring up at the evening sky. The blue was starting to creep back in, dark hues spreading at the edges of the horizon where the moon was rising, but the sun remained fierce on the other side, an artist’s mess of reds and yellows and pinks. White clouds dashed the skyscape like an afterimage of a swinging sword, and a pleasant breeze ruffled his hair and the edges of his bandana.   
He would have to sleep soon, skip the night for all the Hermits, but he wanted one moment of relaxation. One moment of peace in his crazy stupid life.  
  
_ If you get a moment of peace, I get a lifetime of fun.  
_   
“I really don’t think that’s fair.” Bdubs said, still staring at the setting sun. Booegy’s voice was in his head today, rather than hovering over his shoulder and chilling his shadow. These days were always worse than others, slimy, oily thoughts spilling into his mind, where he would really prefer them not to be.  
  
_ Fair is stupid. Life isn’t fair. Death isn’t fair. I won’t be fair when I kill your stupid friends.  
_   
“I really gotta ask!” Bdubs ripped up the grass with one hand, letting the blades fall back down to the earth and in the breeze. “Do you think that the nastier you are, I’m more likely to let you have control?”   
Boogey scoffed, using Bdubs’ mouth for the action.  _ You’re not worth lying to. _

“Oh, don’t pretend you’re all high and mighty, being honest with me.” Bdubs huffed. “Just cause you’re honest doesn’t make you nice!”

Boogey fell silent again after a rude noise, letting Bdubs finally stand up and stretch out- his peaceful moment ruined by the shadow in his head. It had been nice while it lasted, but now all he wanted to do was sleep.   
Sleep the night away, and quietly save the hermits from himself. Himself? Boogeydubs? He still didn’t know where that line fell, where those two identities and people split, where he ended and the murderous, fear-inspiring ideals begin, but there’s a creek. A small step between him and the shadow that neither of them would cross for fear of getting their feet wet.

His bed was comfy, his blankets warm, his pillow soft. Bedtime was the time that treated Bdubs best, and he slumbered away, Xisuma’s code of the world spinning the skies along, stars leaving streaks in the sky and the sun rising, rising, rising.

For Bdubs, it felt like hours. For the other hermits, he knew it’s a matter of minutes.

And apparently in those short few minutes, he earned a visitor.

He sat up with a yawn and stretched, happily staring out the window at the sun already over the horizon.

“Good morning, you absolute beauty, you!” He cooed at the giant flaming ball of gas, and a cough from across the room sent him flying out of bed, tangled in his sheets.

“Well hello to you as well. No offense, dude, but do you often flirt with the sun?”

“Doc!” He squeaked- and there came the embarrassment and the crushing, never-ending loneliness, the shadow within him eating up the fear the cyborg provided him with. “Um- hi! Hello! What a surprise to see you!”   
Because that much is true. Doc had said less words to him since he fell into the world than Bdubs has fingers, right up until that very moment.

The interaction already felt awkward and stale.

Doc coughed again, clearing his throat before he looked over Bdubs, laughing a bit as he sticked his hand out (the metal one) to help the builder up from the floor.

Bdubs gladly took his hand, fingers wrapped around each other’s wrists as Doc lifted him from his wooden floor with ease, the blankets falling off his side and into a heap on the ground. He tried to let go, but Doc refused, pulling him into a sudden and firm hug that had that caring yet disinterested attitude to it that only Doc could give off. Bdubs was utterly terrified, and allowed himself to be held, awkwardly still holding Doc’s hand with his own twisted at a strange angle to accommodate the hug.

“Hi.” Doc muttered. “I- how are you, Bdubs?”

“Uh.” Bdubs said, because he was well spoken.

Luckily for him, Doc wasn’t a talker either, and simply just held him a bit tighter before he pat Bdubs on the back and let go.

Bdubs shivered under the gaze Doc gave him.

“Tour!” He blurted. “Tour. Too-er. That’s always fun. You want a tour, Doc? I can promise ya, it’ll be worth it.”

“Thank you, but not today.” Doc rumbled. “I came to ask… well, for a favor. One you will not like.”

A favor. A favor- just a favor, not time spent with an old friend. Oh, the sneaky doctor had probably been trying to butter him up with the awkward one-sided conversation and hug!

“A favor.” Bdubs repeated one more time out loud, eyes narrowed. “Riiight… remind me, Doc, what kinda project are you working on right now?”

Doc gave him a glance.

“I’m not planning on experimenting on you, if that is what you’re worried about.”

“Yeah. Well, a guy can get paranoid.” Bdubs crossed his arms, but sighed. “Fine. Tell me the favor and I’ll tell you yes or no.

“I need to experiment on Boogey.”

Wow, he really wanted to punch Doc, if he wasn’t sure he would break his fist.

“Get out of my house.” He ordered instead with a fierce scowl- he didn’t hear the curious whisper in his head, mm-mm, his thoughts were his thoughts and he would not be participating in any kind of experiment. “Doc- Doc, buddy- you cant just- that’s- you’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

Doc merely raised a brow.

“Do you want me out of your house or do you want to insult me?”

“I’m leaning pretty heavily on the both answer!”

The cyborg clicked his tongue impatiently, reaching forward to grab for Bdubs again- but they both flinched when his hand went through the builder’s arm like it wasn’t even there, the only sign of contact a black splotch that looked vaguely like Doc’s hand.

“Get out.” Bdubs said again, his voice barely a whisper. “Please, Doc. I don’t want to- he will take any chance, y’hear me? Any chance he gets.”

“Zisuma would stop anything before it happened.” Doc said, and Bdubs laughed.

“‘Zuma doesn’t even know he exists. Thanks to you. If I have to ask you to leave again, Doc, you’re gonna get a whole new experiment than the one you wanted.”

And yet-

And yet Doc and Bdubs both watched the black spread up his arm, giving it an oily sheen as the void traveled up and under his shirt, reappearing on his neck and chin, and Bdubs squeezed his eyes shut as the black went over his mouth, and erased it from existence.

The spread stopped there, and the void split to show off a maw of green teeth.

“Experiment, huh?” Boogey said, using the one arm he had control of to stroke his chin. “I like experiments. I seem to remember, Doc, you also liked experiments, back in the jungle. I think my favorite was where you gave me an entire cow.”

Doc sighed, reaching out to flick Bdubs’s forehead- his brown eyes snapped back open to glare at Doc with the fury of a thousand Scars, and Boogey’s mouth went thin, dropping his arm to knock Doc’s away.

“I’m having a nice conversation with you, Doc.” He hissed. “Leave the idiot behind- tell me more about this experiment!”

It was a strange feeling, not having a mouth. Boogey had pulled the trick before with all his senses, but not having a mouth was the physically weirdest. It wasn’t the fact that it was covered by black shadows of the void, it was the fact that his mouth simply did not exist anymore. If Doc had found out a way to pull back Boogey’s mouth from Bdubs’ skin, he would have found smooth, whole, tanned skin in place of his lips.

“Dude.” Doc murmured, and there was at least a tad of apology in his tone. “Blink twice if you want to be awake for this.”

Want? Oh, Doc, you stupid, beautiful bastard, Bdubs sure as hell didn’t want to be awake for whatever Doc was planning. It was needed. Necessary. Required. But never in a million and two years would he want to be awake when Boogey had control of his body.

If Etho had been alive, the scars on the side of his face could’ve shown why.

He blinked twice, and Doc nodded before he pulled a hefty flashlight out of his lab coat to point at Boogey.

“If you try and spread on him, I will flash you.”

Boogey purred.

“Oh, Doc, I didn’t know you felt that way-“

“You know what I meant.” The creeper said gruffly, and pushed Boogey towards the door. “Get walking. We’re going to Area 77.”

“My name is Doc, I’m a narcissist and name an entire military base after myself.” Boogey laughed, but slipped out the door and into the morning, only shuddering a little in the early morning light. Doc followed the both of them out soon enough, and closed the door, gesturing towards the hill where Keralis’ starter house stood.

“Move.”

“No talk? No explaining what experiment I’ll be participating in?”

“We have a lantern that gives off shadows instead of light, and if there’s a guy who knows how shadows work, it’s you. Now move.”

Boogey sighed but started up the path- no elytra, Bdubs or Doc wouldn’t trust the shadow with an elytra, and Bdubs knew the demon would be making him feel the exercise when he slipped out of his body again.

If he ever got it back.

  
The thought haunted him all the way through the experiment of the shadowed lantern, and all the way up to when Doc shined the flashlight right on him to melt away the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the next chapter should be coming out in a week or less- and will be the longest chapter. thank you all so much for the positive feedback, i really do appreciate it.


End file.
